Drop Ship 13
by Razorwind
Summary: Drop Ship 13, the cursed and despised ship in the Kimeric fleet, to ride it is one thing, to survive shows you to be smiled apon by the fates. This cursed ship is used only by the 13th company, Survival 13. R&R no flames


The drop ships, an essential piece of any space faring army, used to get troops from their orbital fortresses onto planets ripe for conquer. There is no difference within the Kimeric fleet, the drop ships have evolved over the Millennia to be the sleek, plasma powered workhorses they are today, but one drop ship, continually refitted, has become the basis for legends and superstitions...Drop Ship 13, to ride this nameless craft is one thing, to survive it marks you out as being smiled upon by whatever powers rule the cosmos. Even the initiation rites of the mysterious 13th Duoa drop troopers, the aptly named Survival 13 squad, involves a hair raising flight on Drop Ship 13, survival means acceptance, and the 13th company (the 13th of 13 squad) are the best the Imperia has to offer. The ship is fraught with frequent disasters, yet is always still able to limp back, those onboard however are not always so lucky...  
  
Drop ship 13  
  
The Klaxons sounded aboard Ranging Sun, a Spacebourn Stardrift class cruiser; the siren could only mean one thing, drop imminent. During this, the 3rd Cleansing, the drops were more and more frequent, and the casualties increased steadily with each drop. In a hanger separate to the others a lone drop ship sat, painted in the blues and purples of the Survival 13 squad, the infamous, unnamed ship...Drop Ship 13.  
  
The 13th company drop troopers charged into the hanger, paused and kneeled before the craft, praying to the fates for the ship to stay intact, cause them to launch carnage at their foes, and make the ride as exhilarating as possible. Their prayers offered, the troopers clambered into the ship, locked in, and gave the pilot the green light. Go. The engines whined as the magnetic coils began to rotate and the propulsion plasma began to whirl, then the doors opened into the vacuum of space, and the vista of the planet below. The clamps opened, and the engines fully ignited, shoving the craft out into the void, like a stone from a Kitt's slingshot. The craft followed a singular path, avoided by others, the superstition of that craft keeping all away, as it dropped towards their target, the Multarias, captured and renamed, stronghold of Goreallian, the biggest threat on this planet.  
  
As they neared, the Multaria's anti orbital cannons opened up, highly inaccurate, highly temperamental, but highly deadly when they actually hit, and the drop ship Tool of Vengeance caught a glancing blow, whereas the Flying Spear caught a blast full in the face, exploding in a shower of debris, armour and speeding body bits, their own momentum keeping them hurtling towards the planet to fall as deadly rain, true Resurrected, killed but still killing. The flotilla of drop ships and Drop Ship 13 fell through the atmosphere, nearing their target. Firing retros, Drop Ship 13 slowed it's decent towards the ground, only to feel the shrapnel of another drop ship hit the side of the craft, a fellow ship had come to close and had been struck down by the curse of the 13th drop ship. Those inside heard the pinging noise as Multaria Ripper shards impacted on the armoured underside of the drop ship, but even the Multarias could not escape the curse of Drop Ship 13, the shooting sounds stopped as the drop ship hit ground with a thump, a slight squish, and a chuckle from the 13th company.  
  
Dropping the ramp, 15 troopers, their armour painted blue and purple, charged from their fabled craft, and it's red landing zone, and opened fire with customised, unstable, PPRs, their commander fielding a battle stave and heavy shredder, left over from the 2nd cleansing, and as one, carved a path towards the main doors of the fortress. Their brethren in the Firework Demolitions squad opened the doors for the cleansing force, which promptly charged in with all guns blazing. The 13th company charged through the halls of the fortress, slaying all in their path as they strove to reach the inner sanctum, where the leader of the Multarian force would undoubtedly be. The Survival 13 squad crashed into the room like a tidal wave hitting a paper house, the doors, and wall around it, shattered under the hail of weapons fire then bodies as the doors were shot then charged at. The startled Warlord jumped up out of his throne, his six armed bodyguards running to attack the squad as the War leader fled to the Basilica. The guards easily disposed of, the commander ordered everyone to reload their weapons, and then charge into the Basilica, which is where things took a turn for the worse, they had charged into a hasty ambush, shrapnel rounds flying into the walls around them, some shots passing through Kimeric bodies on their way to the walls, felling 3 troopers, bringing the squad down to 9 men, they had lost 3 earlier during the assault. Diving behind cover some of the troopers blind-fired the enemies and one team leader chucked a pulse grenade, in the hush before detonation they heard the high pitched whine of the plasma in the grenade being heated, then all hell broke loose, the grenade detonated, as a band of Multarias charged into the Basilica from the inner sanctum, and the Warlord yelled for a push forward. The commander called for backup, and moments later Drop Ship 13 crashed through the glass, domed roof, landing on a good proportion of the attacking Multarias, and mowing down more by unleashing it's weaponry at them  
  
"You called?" came in over 13th company's headsets as the rear door of the drop ship opened, guarded by a turret that dropped out of the ceiling of the troop compartment.  
  
The remains of Survival 13 squad piled into the drop ship, the commander beheading the Multarian Warlord on his way, the door closed and Drop Ship 13 ignited it's engines melting more enemy troops, but not before a heavy ripper's load punched through the hull of the craft, pinning a Kimeric trooper into position on the bench with shards through his arms and torso, warning the troopers to activate breathers, the pilot hit afterburners and shot out of the Basilica, destroying more of the dome on it's way out. On the way back to the carrier the holes caused by the heavy ripper caused the vacuum outside to pull at all of the troops, the trooper impaled to the hull plugging up his holes and wads of recording sheets were used on the other holes, once inside the Ranging Sun and the hanger had been pressurised, the Technics came and removed the impaled trooper to the Medtech bays, a few others following for lost parts of anatomy, even the commander needing a new eye.  
  
Not all of them came back, most of them were injured, all of them given the same thrill from the drop  
  
Such is the curse of Drop Ship 13.  
  
...::File ends::... 


End file.
